


A Valentines Day at Ericson Academy

by LiaWritesSometimes



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Bisexual Disaster Clementine (Walking Dead), Ericson's Boarding School (Walking Dead), Established Aasim/Ruby, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Found Family, Love Confessions, Multi, Team as Family, Valentines Day antics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:41:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29566971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiaWritesSometimes/pseuds/LiaWritesSometimes
Summary: Valentines Day has arrived at Ericson Academy, and with it comes the perfect opportunity for Louis & Violet to confess their feelings to Clementine.
Relationships: Aasim/Ruby (Walking Dead: Done Running), Clementine/Louis/Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Kudos: 2





	A Valentines Day at Ericson Academy

_**1 - Seasons Of Love** _

February had finally rolled around and it seemed like the chilling and cold weather of winter was finally coming to an end, whilst the season of love was just beginning. The arrival of February meant that Valentines Day was swiftly following behind it, as it was now only just a few days away. Not that you would know what actual day it was, unless you took a peek at the pages in Aasim's journal. Counting the days since the apocalypse had begun was not the most fun of tasks, but he always made sure to do it. Zombies or no zombies, no special occasion would to be missed, and what could be more special than Valentines Day?

It was something that pretty much everybody in the world (well, everybody who was left) celebrated, spending the time to cherish their loved ones, be it friends, family or lovers. After almost a lifetime stuck behind the walls of Ericson, the lines between friends and family blended together after time progressed, they only had each other after the adults left them all behind. With the days being counted by the mark of a line in the pages of Aasim's worn down and battered journal, the Ericson kids would still find get together to celebrate whatever event was happening at that moment despite the chaos around them. It was a much needed break from the surreal and frightening world around them, a nice and nostalgic sense of what the world used to be like before the dead started walking.

When the topic of the upcoming holiday was brought up on one particular morning's breakfast meal, pretty much everyone's head shot up at the mention of it. Besides Rosie's, who went on sleeping beside Marlon's foot. Some had an excited twinkle in their eye, whilst others rolled their eyes in disinterest, and one (namely AJ) had a puzzled expression form on his face. He _knew of_ Valentines Day, but he didn't see why this was so important since romance was the very last thing on AJs mind. In his opinion, there more dire things to be mindful of, such as the monsters lurking outside of the school gates or the fact that his Disco Broccoli toy had been missing since last night.

Since it was only four days until the big day, discussions piqued up immediately about plans for it, mostly eager ramblings from Louis who seemed to be a particularly big fan of Valentines Day. AJ quickly lost interest and left the table to look for his Disco Broccoli toy, whilst Willy and Mitch (also not caring for the holiday) started a game of tag.

"This is gonna be great. Clem here hasn't yet experienced a Valentines Day at Ericson." Louis stated to the rest of the group, a grin on his face.

"Lucky her." Marlon jokingly remarked. Violet grunted in amusement, unlike Brody who just looked at him in a disapproving way. He looked back at her with wide eyes, as if to say 'What?'

Louis went on, "You'll love it, trust me!" He said to Clementine. She turned her attention away from AJ and returned a small smile at him.

"Yeah, you're in for a real darn treat." Ruby agreed.

Clementine looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" She asked with a tone of amusement heard in her voice.

"It's kind of tradition here. We like to celebrate the holidays as we normally would. It's quite a big deal since it's one of the only times we can actually have fun and not stress our asses off." Aasim explained and set aside his bowl.

"Well then, I guess I'm looking forward to it." Clementine looked back at the group before she turned around and walked over to the dorms where AJ had recently run off to.

Louis immediately stood up from the table. "Well, if anybody needs me, I'll be at the piano as per usual." He walked away until he disappeared into the main building.

The rest of the group said their goodbyes to him and returned to their breakfast meal. Violet watched him through the corner of her eye. She wondered if the reason why Louis had skipped off to the piano had anything to do with Clementine and upcoming Valentines Day.

Violet blinked to bring herself back to reality.

"Um, I'll see you guys later. Get a head start on watch duty and all that..." Violet shoved her hands in her pockets and stood up before she made her way up to the watchtower.

_**2 - Love Fool** _

Violet rest her arms on the edge of the stone wall and looked into the distance of the forest trees that were lit up almost blindingly from behind by the early morning sunrise. She didn't want to think about it, but she also couldn't help but slip back and forth between her thoughts every now and then. It was no secret to anybody that Louis had feelings for Clementine - every-time she came near him he was immediately put in an even better mood, if that was even possible. Even though Violet didn't really want to admit it, she understood where he was coming from. She hated to feel like she was competing with Louis, but she'd definitely be lying to herself if she pretended that she had no feelings for Clementine either. Not since Minnie had Violet felt like this about someone, which was a hard thing to accept because the last thing that she wanted was to forget about Minnie and move on. In her eyes, it wouldn't be fair. Minnie might be gone from Ericson but the memory of her definitely wasn't.

She shivered as she felt the harsh chill of the winter morning temperature and crossed her arms tightly. Violet wasn't in the mood for Valentines Day by any means. It had been more than a few weeks, but the uneasy feeling that came after Marlon confessed to Minnie and Sophie being given away to raiders still came and went frequently. It was so surreal. For over a year she had spent grieving the loss only for it to all be false. Minnie was still out there, somewhere. The knowledge of that filled her with both dread and hope at the same time. Who knows where she could be, what could have happened to her. Maybe Minnie had forgotten all about Violet, it had been so long.

No, surely not. Violet still remembered everything down to the very moment Minnie had first said 'hello' to Violet and the very last moment she had saw her, a quick and quaint cheek kiss before Violet rushed off to gardening duty. She didn't want to forget, she loved Minnie, and although they never had the chance to tell each other, Violet was pretty sure that Minnie loved her too. She was confident that Minnie still remembered her, wherever she was now. Maybe Minnie had moved on since then, sure, but...she still had to remember her.

So why did Violet feel so guilty about liking Clementine? Again, it had been over a full year since Minnie and Sophie were gone. Would Minnie even come back? Or what if she did and she saw that Violet had feelings for a new girl? God, feelings were confusing sometimes. Deep inside, Violet sort of knew that it was unofficially over and it was time to move on, but that was hard, to say the very least.

Violet rubbed her eyes forcefully as a way to remind herself to focus. She bit her nails as she scanned the forest stretching out in the distance and returned back to observing the area around her.

Tenn sighed and set down the graphite pencil he held in his hand, taking a quick break from the drawing he had spent ages working on. He glanced up at Violet, who had her back to the school and seemed pretty focused on watch duty.

'Better not to disturb her when she's busy.' He thought, and looked around the courtyard to see what the others were doing.

Omar was busy collecting empty bowls, Louis was in the piano room, Marlon had returned to his office, Willy and Mitch were still playing their game of tag and Rosie was still asleep, but this time she laid on the steps leading to the main building. Everyone else had gone to start on their daily chores. Clementine had returned from the dorms and started to practise archery. AJ had also returned from the dorms looking slightly disappointed. Tenn decided to go and talk to him, he was his friend after all.

_**3 - Love Shack** _

Tenn approached AJ, now stood closely near Clementine at the makeshift shooting range in the courtyard. Once he arrived, he stood still and waited for Clementine to finish the sentence that she was saying prior to his arrival. She let go of an arrow she had drew.

"He'll be here somewhere, AJ, Don't worry about it too much, okay?" Tenn didn't know what Clementine was talking about so he paid no attention.

"Hi, AJ." He said, giving him a small wave as he spoke.

"Oh, hey Tenn."

Clementine pulled out the arrows that were lodged in the target and turned her head to face Tenn. "Hi, Tenn. How's your drawing coming along?" She asked him.

Tenn fidgeted with his hands. "Still working on it."

"Oh. You'll figure something out, probably." Clementine returned to her shooting and pulled the bow string back, before she paused and looked back at AJ, "Hey, why don't you ask Tenn to help you find Disco Broccoli for you?" She suggested.

"Hmm, Okay." AJ answered. Satisfied, Clementine once again returned to her shooting.

"Disco Broccoli is missing?" Tenn looked concerned, AJ hardly ever even let go of the toy, he loved it that much.

"Yeah." AJ pouted.

Tenn shrugged at him, "We should go talk to Louis, maybe he's seen it?"

"Okay." He nodded, sounding hopeful. Then he shouted, "Race ya!"

AJ immediately ran towards the building. Tenn followed behind in a sluggish fashion, running was definitely not his favourite thing to do.

The doors to the lounge opened and revealed a frustrated looking Louis leant over the piano and playing different chords.

"No...not right." Louis groaned. He shook his head and looked up to see AJ rush over to his side, Tenn walking behind him. He barely opened his mouth to greet him when AJ had already started:

"Have you seen Disco Broccoli?"

Louis raised his eyebrows. "Woah, slow down, little man. No, I haven't seen him anywhere in here. Just the piano, and me. Obviously." He outstretched an arm and gestured to the piano.

AJ sighed and began to walk out of the room.

"What're you working on?" Tenn looked down at the piano. On the top of it was a page of sheet music that Tenn didn't recognise, or understand since Louis was the only one who could actually read it.

Louis noticed this and grabbed the page. "Just a little something for Valentines day."

"Can we hear?" AJ turned around and sounded intrigued. He always loved Louis's songs, as did Clementine.

"No - it's, uh, not done yet." Louis didn't seem to want to talk about the subject further, so after sharing a quick confused glance, AJ and Tenn left in silence as Louis returned his interest back to the piano.

AJ sat down beside Rosie on the steps in-front of the main building and started to pet her. "I wish we could hear Louis's song now. I hate waiting." He said.

Tenn nodded. "Yeah...I wonder what Clem will think of it."

AJ looked up at him, confused.

"Clem?" He glanced at Clementine. She was still stood at the shooting range and fired another arrow in the distance.

"Well, the song is for her, right?" Tenn spoke as he sat down. He went on, "It's cute, Louis really likes her."

AJ thought for a moment and then smiled. "I guess. I like Louis and I like Clem, so...yeah, it is kind of cute."

"Vi likes Clem too." Tenn mentioned, causing AJ to look surprised, he was definitely out of the loop when it came to romances between the others. "Oh, um...I was not supposed to say that...Vi told me not to." Tenn looked down at the ground, feeling guilty.

There was a bit of a pause before AJ spoke again, "So is Violet going to do something for Clem on Valentines Day too?"

"I don't know." Tenn admitted.

"Hm, I never knew so many people liked each-other besides Aasim and Ruby. Weird." He continued to pet Rosie, who was now awake. "Where are they anyway?"

"They're on greenhouse duty." Tenn answered. Then he said, "I wonder if Aasim will do anything for Ruby on Valentines Day?"

AJ laughed. "No way. He's too chicken!" He stood up and flailed his arms out like a chicken would, accompanied by sound effects that didn't actually sound anything like a chicken. When he had finished he said, "We should go to the greenhouse and ask if they've seen Disco Broccoli anywhere."

"Ok." Tenn agreed. "What if we talked to Aasim and helped him with Ruby? I think it'd be fun. We could play Cupid."

"Erm, okay." AJ said externally. Internally he thought, 'what the hell is a Cupid?'

_**4 - L O V E** _

Aasim peered through the foggy window of the greenhouse to see the shape of two small figures walking towards it. Ruby was in the back, tending to the herb garden and trimming the weeds that had started to grow.

"Did Marlon send some extra hands to help with the gardening?" He turned around to face Ruby, who looked up at him and brushed a fallen strand of her out of her face.

"Shouldn't think so, why?"

At that moment the door to the greenhouse opened, and Tenn and AJ walked in.

Ruby spoke first, "Hey there, you two. What's happening?"

"Seen Disco Broccoli anywhere?" AJ looked around the greenhouse as he spoke. Aasim shook his head, feeling kind of confused.

"Can't say that I have." Ruby replied, and she then returned back to tending to the herbs.

"We're also here to help you!" Tenn announced.

"I don't think that we..." Aasim started to say, but he stopped as AJ had already started to harvest the newly-grown vegetables. Ruby watched and smiled at the sight.

"That's real sweet of you, sugar. Hold on a second, I'll help you with those." She walked into the second room to find AJ a basket.

Once she had gone, Tenn said to Aasim (quietly so that Ruby wouldn't hear), "Me and AJ have come up with some ideas for a Valentines Day gift for Ruby."

"Yeah, they're super good." AJ piped up. Then he said, "ONLY if you help me look for Disco Broccoli!" He narrowed his eyes but still smiled.

"Wha-" Aasim sounded baffled. "I do not need romantic advice from children, thank you very much." He looked annoyed.

"Suit yourself..." AJ crossed his arms and turned his back to Aasim.

Ruby returned back into the room and knelt down beside AJ to help him. Aasim let out an exasperated sigh.

"Okay fine, tell me what you've come up with." He whispered to Tenn. 'I can't believe it's come to this...' He thought.

Tenn began to list the ideas that he had, counting on his fingers as he went along.

_**5 - I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)** _

A few days later, Valentines Day eventually rolled around, and every-body had their different ways of celebrating it. Louis was practically glued to the piano seat, working on his song, whilst Violet spent the most of her time focusing on her chores as a way to think about anything but the day itself. One rare moment in the late afternoon where the lounge wasn't occupied by Louis was immediately taken by Violet. She sat on the floor by the gramophone as it played the only jazz record that the school had. It was kind of relaxing, to her at-least.

The empty doorway was filled by Clementine, who stood in the frame and looked around the room.

Violet noticed Clementine's arrival and seemed surprised, "Um, hi Clem. What're you doing here?"

"Hey Vi. I was just looking for Louis, guess he's not in here though." Clementine answered.

"Oh." Violet looked disappointed.

Clementine walked over to her as Violet made her way to her feet.

"I was just listening to some music. I don't know where Louis is, so..." Violet trailed off her sentence and leaned against the wall.

"Well, you're here, so I'd like to stay. Mind if I hang out?" Clementine asked.

Violet blinked. "Yeah, sure."

Clementine leaned up against the wall beside Violet before she spoke, "I love the jazz record. It's pretty nice, I could dance to it all day long."

Violet turned her head. She didn't say anything for a few seconds until she held out her right hand. "Uh...do you wanna?" She scratched the back of her neck with her other hand as she waited for a response.

"That sounds nice, yeah." Clementine smiled and took Violets hand, to which she was spun around.

The song itself was quite fast paced, and the only dance Violet properly knew was a classic slow dance. Well she had to adapt somehow, and so the two of them danced to the speed of the song, stepping side by side to the rhythm of the music and smiling as they did.

When the song came to an end, neither of them wanted to let go, so they stopped dancing but still held their hands tenderly as they gazed into each-others eyes.

Violet felt a blush creeping onto her cheeks and looked away. "That was nice. I haven't really danced with somebody before, I had fun." She said.

"It was. We should do it again sometime." Clementine suggested.

Violet looked at her again. "I'd like that."

There was a bit of a silence until Violet went on."I should probably go help Omar with supper. See you soon, Clem."

Clementine waved at her and she walked out of the door, passing Louis who was just entering.

_**6 - How Deep Is Your Love?** _

"Hey there, Clem." He called out to her. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long."

Clementine shook her head. "Don't worry about it...so, what's this all about, Lou?"

Louis walked over to the piano and sat down.

"I'm guessing it's something to do with the piano you've been sat by almost all week." Clementine teased and raised an eyebrow at him.

Louis tilted his head. "As usual, you are correct. You win!" He flailed his arms out in a dramatic sense.

Clementine crossed her arms and waited for him to begin. He turned to the piano, stretched his fingers and breathed in.

She listened as he played the notes to a song she didn't recognise. After he had played a few notes he began to sing along to the song, "And you come to me in a summer breeze, keep me warm in your love, then you softly leave, and it's me you need to show, how deep is your love?"

Midway through he looked back to Clementine, and she smiled at him. He smiled back and continued with the song with more energy than before.

"Cause we're living in a world of fools, breaking us down when they all should let us be, we belong to you and me"

The song finished with a flourish and Louis draped a leg over the opposite side of the seat to turn around. In contrast to his confident performance, now he looked nervous.

"So - what did you think?" He asked, adjusting the collar of his jacket as he did.

"I thought it was sweet. You're really good, you know." She answered genuinely.

Louis flushed. "Oh wow, that's... thank you! Cool." He managed to say. "It took me a while to finally get right. I'm glad you liked it."

Clementine rested a hand on her hip. "You should show the others, they'd love it too." She suggested. Louis just looked at her awkwardly. It took her a few seconds to get it. "Oh! Oh." She exclaimed once she'd finally figured out that the song was meant for her.

"...Happy Valentines Day?" Louis didn't mean for it to sound like a question, but the sentence came out as one. He sounded half-amused, half-mortified.

To be fair, you could forgive Clementine for her obliviousness since she'd never actually been serenaded before.

Louis got up from the seat and stood next to her. "As much as I don't want to take away from the moment...I saw you and Vi dancing earlier." He took a pause whilst he tried to find the words. "The last thing I want is to make you choose between us. That's not fair. But...just know that I really like you, and I know she does too. Whatever you choose, I'll still be here beside you. Like, in a metaphorical sense, of course. I've got places to be!"

Clementine had been following him seriously up until that point. She laughed and looked down. Then she looked up back at him. "Thanks, Lou."

The two of them looked at each other for a few more seconds, before Louis spoke again, "Oh - almost forgot, AJ tells me Disco Broccoli is missing. Aasim tried looking for him earlier but couldn't find him. I'm gonna go look for him in the courtyard, you coming?"

Clementine had already started to walk towards the door. "That's okay. I think I already have an idea where he is, anyway." Louis didn't know what she was letting onto, but he waved at her before she turned the corner.

_**7 - Silly Love Songs** _

A few hours later, the sun has started to go down and with it came a cloudless sky of reds and oranges. Even though the day had ended, the evening was just beginning.

Marlon had (reluctantly) planned a small party in order to celebrate Valentines Day. Ruby and Aasim organised the lounge, chairs were moved out of the way to clear space, areas were dusted as best as they could in hopes of a cleaner appearance, and a Valentines themed banner drawn by Tenn was hung up; Omar made the pre-party dinner, which as usual was a rabbit stew that nobody particularly looked forward to; and Louis picked out the music, the classical record that was his personal favourite and every-one else's least favourite after they had heard it so many times.

The party was in full 'swing' - if you could say that, since the only person dancing was AJ. Ruby and Aasim were the only ones actually keeping true to the spirit of Valentines, as Aasim gave Ruby a poem he wrote (recommended by Tenn in exchange for spending an hour searching high and low for Disco Broccoli, to no avail) in order to celebrate their first Valentines Day as a couple together. Mitch overheard the poem and mimed being sick. Everybody else was sat at the sidelines, caught up in their separate conversations.

Louis noticed the lacking party ambience and frowned. "Tough crowd!" He said to Violet, who was leaned against the wall and not paying any particular attention.

"It's not like anybody's going to dance to this music you've put on." She uttered frostily.

Louis gestured to AJ, still dancing in the middle of the room. "Wrong."

Violet didn't respond, she just rolled her eyes.

"Fine then, we'll play something else. Any requests?" He turned to address the people near him, Mitch and Willy. They didn't seem to hear him and went on talking about a walker kill earlier that day which Mitch thought was impressive. "Well, if nobody has anything in mind...I suppose I'll just have to play something of my own." He announced, slightly louder than before.

That caught Mitch's attention. "God, please no. If I hear another song, I'll tear my own hair out." Mitch complained.

Louis raised his eyebrows in an ironic way. "Ouch! I guess we'll have to settle for the country record, then." He walked over to the gramophone and replaced the classical record that was playing.

Everybody seemed happy at the change, especially Ruby.

"I love country!" She exclaimed giddily.

Louis shook his head in disapproval. "Y'all have no taste."

AJ didn't seem phased by the record switch and carried on dancing wildly around the room. Clementine watched him carefully but giggled as he spun around to the rhythm of the song. She thought that it was nice to see him acting like an actual kid as opposed to the grown-up attitude he'd been forced to take on due to the apocalypse. The other kids weren't as interested in dancing, Willy was still chattering on about whatever and Tenn was occupied by putting the final details of the drawing that he was working on.

He scribbled some more with the orange crayon he held in his hand, erased some parts here and there that he deemed unsatisfactory and finally, when it was completed, signed the drawing with his name at the very bottom corner of the page.

Violet, stood next to him, watched as he held up the drawing in triumph. Tenn had always loved art, similar to how his sister Sophie did too. He made sure to draw as much as he could with the limited art supplies that Ericson had left, and Violet always celebrated his talent for it.

She asked him, "Hey, could I see?" Tenn nodded and handed her the paper.

_**8 - My Love Is Your Love** _

In the background of the drawing was the Ericson school, only it didn't look as run down as it did typically, it looked almost like it once was several years ago. No broken windows, no burnt down building, it seemed like there was no apocalypse at all in the world that the drawing lived in.

In the foreground were so many people, some had their faces cut off slightly by the edge of the paper as it was apparent that Tenn had tried to include as many people as he could. Everybody who was an Ericson student was there, along with Clementine and AJ, Rosie and of course his two sisters. They all were smiling. Even the sun that was in the upper corner had a face and was also smiling. Violet let out a small laugh when she saw that Tenn had drawn Omar wearing a chef hat (that was slightly too big for his head) and smiled when she noticed that Aasim and Ruby were holding hands in the drawing. She moved her gaze towards the drawing of Minnie, stood between Sophie and Violet.

She looked down at him, "This is cute, Tenn. How long did it take?"

"A few days." Tenn replied sheepishly. "I wanted to draw something to remind everyone of the people we love."

Marlon walked over and crouched down to Tenn's level. "Can we all take a look?"

He once again nodded and handed it to Marlon, who looked over the drawing and nodded in approval, before it was passed around to the others wanting a peek.

Eventually, after being in the hands of everybody, it was took Violet for a second time. She replaced an old framed painting that nobody had admired before with the drawing and hung it newly up on the wall.

"There. Nobody touch it, okay?"

Everybody nodded in agreement. The placement on the wall felt right, it was a reminder of the past, but this time in a welcome way.

The majority of the party went back to their previous conversations. Clementine overlooked the room and then leaned down slightly to reach AJ, "I'll be just a second, goofball. Don't go anywhere." She told him.

"Uh, okay Clem."

Clementine walked out of the room, giving Louis and Violet a glance as she did so. They both shared a look, the two of them knowing that she wanted to talk with them, and followed her outside into the courtyard.

_**9 - I Just Can't Stop Loving You** _

When Louis and Violet arrived, Clementine was already sat on the stairs. She looked over her shoulder to see them both and smiled as they took their seats next to her.

"I've spent almost the entire day thinking." She stated, looking directly ahead.

They both glanced at Clementine expectantly. Nothing needed to be said, it was pretty evident what they were both thinking, but Louis spoke up anyway.

"So...have you made a decision yet?"

Violet was next to talk, "It's okay if you haven't."

Clementine looked between them and let out a faint sigh. "Listen - I like both of you. Really, I do, you're both cool and I want to get to know you better. I just..." She thought for a moment before she continued, "Do I have to make a decision?"

Violet shook her head.

"Not if you don't want to." Louis answered.

"Yeah, we have pretty much all the time in the world nowadays, so...if you do decide down the line, or if you don't..you know, it's cool." Violet agreed, resting her head on her elbow.

A small pause lingered in the air until Clementine spoke again, "For what it's worth, I really enjoyed spending Valentine's Day with the both of you." She stood up and put her hands in her pockets. "Anyway, I should go and get AJ for an early night, he's probably tired himself out with all the dancing." She chuckled as she spoke, remembering AJ's dance moves. "I just wanted to say goodnight before I did."

_**10 - All You Need Is Love** _

Clementine, Louis and Violet returned back into the room. The country record was still playing as before and AJ was still dancing along to it, now accompanied on the 'dance floor' by Willy, Ruby, Aasim and Brody, who had all decided to join in.

"There you all are." Marlon addressed the three of them. "I was wondering where you went."

"Just outside." Violet said bluntly and walked away.

"I came back to collect AJ, I don't want him staying up too late." Clementine explained to Marlon, and he nodded in return. Louis chatted to him for a bit before he took to the piano.

Clementine walked over to AJ. He looked disappointed when she told him to say goodnight to everybody, but he did so anyway.

"Before we say goodnight to Clem and AJ, we should finish their night off with a song!" Louis announced to everybody.

Mitch opened his mouth to protest but Louis had already started playing before he could stop him. Thankfully, it was a song Clementine actually recognised this time, 'All You Need Is Love' by a band that she used to love when she was around AJ's age.

Almost everybody joined in (quite loudly) at the chorus. It was fun, everybody singing along without a care in the world. AJ had never heard the song before but he enjoyed it all the same, and even sung along to some of the words he could pick up on through the indistinguishable chorus of voices.

The song finished and everybody said goodnight to Clementine and AJ, although it looked like the party didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon since shortly after they left, the faint sound of another song being played could still be heard from the hallway.

_**11 - Isn't She Lovely?** _

Clementine closed the door to their dorm room behind her as herself and AJ entered the room. AJ sat himself down on top of the bed, tired but not wanting to go to sleep yet.

"You had a good day?" She asked him, taking a seat at his side.

"Yeah, it was fun. I really liked the party." He answered, but he still looked down at the floor with a slightly sad look.

Clementine noticed this. "But...?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"I still haven't found Disco Broccoli."

Clementines eyes widened and she came to a realisation, "Oh! I completely forgot!"

AJ furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and watched Clementine walk over to the chest of drawers. She reached in to grab something.

"Disco Broccoli! He's back!" AJ cheered, he was so surprised and excited that he almost shouted it.

"I fixed him up for you. Violet let me borrow some of Tenn's paints to re-do the scratched off parts." She handed AJ the toy and he clutched it close to his chest, happy to finally have him back.

"I missed him, I thought he was gone!"

Clementine giggled lightly. "I didn't mean to worry you, I just wanted to surprise you."

AJ beamed at her. "It's okay."

"Are you ready to get some rest now?" She wasn't really asking him, it was pretty late as it is and she wanted some sleep herself.

"Uh-huh." He laid his head down on the pillow, still holding Disco Broccoli. Clementine laid beside him and shut her eyes.

Unfortunately, that was only for about 30 seconds, as AJ tugged gently on her sleeve to garner her attention. "Clem, I cant fall asleep. I'm too awake."

She sighed, thinking of a way to relax him, until an idea slipped into her head.

"You want me to sing you a song? That used to help you fall asleep when you were little, remember at The New Frontier? I'd sing to you on those nights where you couldn't sleep." She offered him, and he nodded as an answer.

Truthfully, Clementine couldn't actually think of one. It had been so long since she'd sung him to sleep that she'd forgotten the lullabies she used to repeat many times. Luckily she thought of the perfect song, one that she had almost forgotten but remembered in just the nick of time.

"Lee would sing this to me when I had nightmares. I think I still remember the words..."

She took a breath, before she began to sing softly, "Isn't she lovely? Isn't she wonderful? Isn't she precious?"

AJ closed his eyes and listened to the sound of her voice. There was something oddly calming about the way that she sang it.

She went on, continuing with the song for a few minutes. It was even making her sleepy at this point, she could barely keep her eyes open. Only two verses in, AJ had already drifted off to sleep cuddled closely into Clementines shoulder, but she hadn't noticed and so she finished the song, before falling asleep herself.

"...that's so very lovely, made from love."

**Author's Note:**

> this is really long i apologise. anyways, this is my first TWDG fic, as part of the feb 2021 contest (theme: love), hope you like it!!! <3  
> i was supposed to publish this for valentines day but it took a lot longer than expected.


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